The sawfish, a large ray, is easily recognized by its long, flattened snout edged with sharp, tooth-like projections that form a distinctive “saw,” technically known as a rostrum. Despite being one of the ocean’s most extraordinary creatures, very little research has been carried out on sawfish in Sri Lanka.

This gap in knowledge prompted researchers at the Colombo-based Blue Resources Trust (BRT) to investigate a pressing question: Where have all Sri Lanka’s sawfish gone? Their islandwide survey, interviewing 300 fishers from 21 fishing harbors scattered along Sri Lanka’s coastline led to some alarming findings. None of the fishers under the age of 30 could identify a sawfish from photographs. Among those who had seen one, about half had not encountered a sawfish since 1992, and only 32 reported ever catching one, says Akshay Tanna, a researcher at the Blue Resources Trust.

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